Received: from malur.postgresql.org ([217.196.149.56]) by arkaria.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vqf6B-00FL27-1h for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Thu, 12 Feb 2026 22:23:49 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=malur.postgresql.org) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vqf6A-00Bd1u-2T for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Thu, 12 Feb 2026 22:23:47 +0000 Received: from magus.postgresql.org ([2a02:c0:301:0:ffff::29]) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vqdu4-00BIPh-08 for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Thu, 12 Feb 2026 21:07:12 +0000 Received: from mahout.postgresql.org ([2001:4800:3e1:1::227]) by magus.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.98.2) (envelope-from ) id 1vqdu2-00000000NbP-1tYd for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Thu, 12 Feb 2026 21:07:12 +0000 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=postgresql.org; s=20171124; h=Message-ID:Date:Reply-To:Cc:From:To:Subject: Content-Transfer-Encoding:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Sender:Content-ID: Content-Description:In-Reply-To:References; bh=s5G1fLjgF4EpIpwthGmNBURL6uJlHKNrsw2IPys7XG4=; b=G5+qL0Fa4X6EDKei2vfzybQLKk Ku+U6GX/gB78/cK9uDW3OlaJW4AWatW9aBxTacuQGbIFbdfsCBsT0HgVSXrOoJXdEq94jiP5dlw2g Fn1In83mV8J33QFkGdcECXm53tBBOqyfHYadT2UpYLstb86vVssjz4qxIVfc9jtzg7dnTd5ZZXwvp bZeqjarFdI04hxXzw/sfEGC6mEqni1yjK28f4THrSJ9Tg52BfGk+XIpdpdgaYTQuOznw+iq1CikpK v2X6PMNKu/7WNFjUwXt0h8uPksO+johqDyvxVaSZzHs8Nn8ITJUgvREkBqH3FSl9vCzRDB5f5gICM wWiRMRSw==; Received: from wrigleys.postgresql.org ([2a02:16a8:dc51::60]) by mahout.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vqdu0-0011ne-1l for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Thu, 12 Feb 2026 21:07:09 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=wrigleys.postgresql.org) by wrigleys.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1vqdtt-002OwG-35 for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Thu, 12 Feb 2026 21:07:02 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Clarification on the (lack of) differences between the decimal, dec, and numeric types To: pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org From: PG Doc comments form Cc: scott.ratchford@smartlam.com Reply-To: scott.ratchford@smartlam.com, pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2026 21:06:16 +0000 Message-ID: <177093037652.511554.9909015222857903383@wrigleys.postgresql.org> X-Auto-Response-Suppress: All Auto-Submitted: auto-generated List-Id: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Post: List-Owner: List-Archive: Archived-At: Precedence: bulk The following documentation comment has been logged on the website: Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/datatype-numeric.html Description: I would like to clarify the language describing the decimal type on this page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/datatype-numeric.html The above page states that "The types decimal and numeric are equivalent." Although this is correct, it is not precise enough. Several questions have been asked online about the difference between the types, even though there is no difference. decimal and dec are both aliases to the numeric type. Any calls to decimal or dec are the same thing as calls to numeric. I suggest changing the wording of the page to read "decimal is an alias of the type numeric. Both reference the same underlying type." This answer on StackOverflow explains the full details: https://stackoverflow.com/a/79888387/9542182.